Pocono Health System and VNA/Hospice of Monroe County have developed a partnership to provide coordinated and integrated care to all of the patients they serve in Northampton, Monroe, Luzerne, and Pike counties, the organizations said in a news release.

The new partnership is designed to provide an effective continuum of care from the hospital to home care or hospice care thus improving patient quality, safety, and satisfaction, it said.

“We are pleased to partner with VNA/Hospice of Monroe County because we have a shared mission of providing world class care close to home that is focused on serving our community,” said Kathleen E. Kuck, president and CEO of Pocono Health System. “We will continue to provide services to our patients regardless of their ability to pay.”

Mark Hodgson, CEO of VNA/Hospice of Monroe County, added, “The opportunity to partner with Pocono Health System will strengthen the home health and hospice care that we provide to the region and assist in reducing readmissions.”

Kuck welcomed the 87 VNA/Hospice employees into the Pocono health system. The Hospice House, an acute in-patient facility for the terminally ill with six beds, also will become part of Pocono Health System’s Palliative Medicine Program.

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ABOUT THE WRITERS

TIM DARRAGH has been reporting and editing the news for 30 years, most of it at The Morning Call. For much of that time, he's been doing award-winning investigative and in-depth reporting projects. Tim created the three-year-long Change of Heart project, and wrote a series on the state's fractured food inspection system that led to widespread improvements in food safety. Meantime, that novice jogger you see plodding along the streets around Bethlehem Township? That would be Tim.